1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the fields of nucleic acid polymerases and nucleic acid polymerization reactions.
2. Introduction
The efficiency of a nucleic acid polymerization reaction has implications for numerous assays and techniques. For example, the ability to enhance polymerase activity in a PCR process increases the sensitivity of the PCR-based assay. We have identified, purified, and analyzed novel extracts, proteins, and complexes that improve the polymerization activity of nucleic acid polymerases. Included within the aspects of the present invention are methods for identifying compositions with a polymerase enhancing activity, methods for purifying and using these compositions, and specific extracts, proteins, and complexes that function to enhance polymerase activity.
3. Description of Related Art
Manipulating nucleic acids with polymerization reactions is a fundamental component of biotechnology-related research. These reactions permit researchers to replicate DNA or RNA in vitro, which in turn allows cloning or amplification of specific nucleic acids or groups of nucleic acids. Numerous other examples exist detailing the critical nature of a nucleic acid polymerization reaction or a nucleic acid polymerization enzyme in a particular technique, including sequencing nucleic acids, mutagenesis of nucleic acid sequences, and producing nucleic acid probes for hybridization. Of particular current interest are amplification reactions, such as PCR, that have greatly increased the rate at which researchers can perform nucleic acid related experimentation. Extremely rare nucleic acids can now be amplified and manipulated using these techniques, which necessarily involve nucleic acid polymerases.
Using techniques with an amplification step has driven concern for the efficiency, fidelity, and sensitivity of the polymerase used. This has resulted in efforts to both analyze and optimize polymerization conditions for a variety of applications. (Lundberg et al., Gene 108: 1-6 (1991); Eckert and Kunkel, PCR Methods Applic. 1: 17-24 (1991); Ling et al., PCR Methods Applic. 1: 63-69 (1991); Brail et al., Mutat. Res. 303: 75-82 (1994); Garrity and Wold, P.N.A.S. 89: 1021-1025 (1992); Taylor and Logan, Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 6: 24-29 (1995)) In particular, quantitative amplification-based reactions rely upon the ability to efficiently amplify each nucleic acid species present in a sample. (See Ausubel, et al., Chapter 15, In: Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley & Sons (1992) and supplements through 1995.) Thus, both a concern for the accuracy of and a need for new methods to enhance the performance of amplification-based nucleic acid techniques exists in the art.
One way in which these concerns and needs have been addressed is through the use of additives to the amplification reaction. Different additives act at different points in the amplification process. For example, formamide has been used to increase the specificity of PCR with GC rich target sequences, which are particularly susceptible to intramolecular hybridization that may prevent hybridization with a primer. (Sarkar, G. et al. Nucl. Acids Res. 18: 7465 (1990)). It has also been reported that tetramethylammonium chloride increases yield and specificity of PCR reactions. (Chevet, E., et. al., Nucleic Acids Res. 23:3343-3334 (1995).) Hung et al. report the reduction in multiple satellite bands from amplifying complex DNA when dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is added. (Hung, T., et al. Nucl. Acids Res. 18: 4953(1990).) The multiple satellite bands often present problems in purifying the desired amplification product from the other DNA present.
Certain proteins have been used to stabilize hybridized nucleic acids during replication. For example, E. coli single-stranded DNA binding protein has been used to increase the yield and specificity of primer extension reactions and PCR reactions. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,449,603 and 5,534,407.) The gene 32 protein (single stranded DNA binding protein) of phage T4 apparently improves the ability to amplify larger DNA fragments (Schwartz, et al., Nucl. Acids Res. 18: 1079 (1990)) and enhances DNA polymerase fidelity (Huang, DNA Cell. Biol. 15: 589-594 (1996)). In addition, bacterial thioredoxin combined with T7 DNA polymerase (Sequence) has been used to increase processivity, but not at high temperatures such as those used in PCR.
Another way amplification-based assays and techniques have been improved is through the development of modified polymerases or the use of combinations of polymerases. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,772) For example, the TaKaRa long PCR kit employs two polymerases (Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd; Japan), and a number of polymerase combinations were also tested by Barnes (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 91:2216-2220 (1994). Truncated Taq and T. flavus DNA polymerase enzymes that apparently exhibit increased thermostability and fidelity in PCR have also been suggested. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,149.) Combinations of polymerases with and without 5'.fwdarw.3' exonuclease or 3'.fwdarw.5' proofreading activity have also been used. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,523)
Further, amplification-based assays and techniques have been improved through empirical testing of conditions, reagents, and reagent concentrations to optimize polymerization reactions with a particular enzyme. Temperature and length of amplification cycles, primer length, and pH, for example, are all conditions that can be optimized. (Barnes, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 91:2216-2220 (1994).)
However, accessory proteins can be even more useful in improving polymerase activity and/or the processivity of polymerases. "Processivity" in this context refers to the number of enzymatic reactions occurring each time an enzyme binds to its substrate. In the context of nucleic acid replication reactions, "processivity" means the number of bases that can be replicated when the polymerase binds to a priming site. An increase in processivity directly relates to longer replication products.
Intracellular replication has been shown to involve accessory proteins, as characterized in E. coli, human, and phage T4 systems. The accessory proteins interact with polymerases to improve activity and provide the high processivity necessary to replicate genomic DNA efficiently while avoiding unacceptable mutation rates. Since the accessory proteins can be used in combination with the other improvements noted above, the development and application of accessory proteins holds particular promise for enhancing the results of nucleic acid replication-based reactions.
Accessory proteins have been identified in eukaryotes, E. coli, and bacteriophage-T4 and are thought to form "sliding clamp" structures. (Kelman and O'Donnell, Nucl. Acids. Res. 23(18): 3613-3620 (1995).) These structures are thought to tether the polymerase to DNA, thereby increasing processivity. The sliding clamp structures, however, have largely been studied in vivo and in model systems. Only in the case of T4 polymerase has knowledge of the activity of such accessory proteins been used to improve polymerization-based techniques employed by researchers in the art. For example, accessory proteins of the T4 holoenzyme have been reported to improve processivity when added to polymerization systems using T4 polymerase. (Young et al., Biochem. 31(37): 8675-8690 (1992); Oncor Fidelity.TM. Sequencing System, Oncor; Gaithersburg, Md.) However, since the T4 accessory proteins are derived from bacteriophage, they are not likely to enhance polymerases from bacteria, archeabacteria, or eukaryotes. Thus, the use of T4 accessory proteins is believed to have been limited to techniques where T4 polymerase is used.
Accordingly, since present knowledge and use of accessory proteins has led to limited applications in replication-based techniques, there continues to exist a need in the art for new and more widely useful compositions for enhancing polymerase enzyme activity. The present invention meets this need.